Disney World September 2015 - Part 3

Three parks were on the agenda today so we needed to get an early start. We caught the first ferry from the Transportation and Ticket Center over to the Magic Kingdom. Our Polynesian Resort room offered an easy short walk to the boat. We were about to miss the boat (literally) but the staff was nice enough to hold it for us so we could ride with two other guests. Dave took some fantastic video during the ride, but he didn't know the camera lens was fogged up so we got nothing.

We had an early reservation at the Be Our Guest restaurant that allowed us to access the park before it opened. We walked up an empty Main Street, which was cool. In the castle we chose to sit in The West Wing. Holly had an egg sandwich and Dave the cronut. He was a little irked to find that large self-serve soda cups were no longer available - just the small - so his to-go refill would not last as long as usual.

One of the "sometimes" benefits of speeding through an early BOG breakfast is getting to ride the new 7 Dwarfs' Mine Train before the regular park guests arrive. Today was one of those days and we got to cycle through the ride twice before the hordes made it over.

The rest of the morning was spent doing normal Magic Kingdom stuff which included Peter Pan, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and several attempts of getting on broken down rides like Big Thunder and Small World. We eventually made it on Big Thunder but Small World would have to wait another day.

We reached our saturation point (aka Daddy needs a beer) and headed over to Epcot. We had a plan to casually walk around the World Showcase and get a counter service lunch. We settled on the sandwich shop in France. Beers were obtained from the Refreshment Port because we didn't want to drink Kronenberg. On our way over to France we had to deal with a moderate drizzle. Hard enough to anger you, but not so bad as to totally soak you. This made the tiny seating area in the restaurant more crowded than it need to be. We ended up splitting a ham and cheese sandwich and Holly got a pastry for a dessert item - Dave was holding out for ice cream. Dave didn't enjoy the nougat flavor he picked and sent Holly back in to get him a coffee flavored ice cream. He didn't want to go back in and explain to the French kids he didn't like their flavor as he saw it was an offense to their culture.

During the afternoon we walked around quite a bit. We did the Pick-a-Pearl in Japan for the millionth time. It's a lot of fun, but we get disappointed when we don't get a silver one or doubles. This trip we saw someone pull out a gold pearl - new goal. Since it was Labor Day the Voices of Liberty were performing in the American Gardens theater. We decided to watch the show expecting patriotic songs. Instead, they came out in Easter outfits and did Disney/Pixar favorites and other movie songs. Dave was caught on film saying "it's worse than I imagined". Later in the evening Maddie and Tae were performing. Google told us that Dave recognized one of their songs. We chose to leave the park in favor of the DJ Elliott in the Studios over listening to the country singers.

On the way to the Studios (we had plenty of time before dinner) we stopped in at the Boardwalk's Bell Vue Lounge. We enjoy talking to the main bartenders and sometimes get some good rumors and insights from them and other "regulars" that tend to frequent this bar.

By the time we got to the Studios the DJ Party was in full swing. DJ Elliott (or DJ Chill for this party) does a great job mixing up Disney songs, oldies, and today's dance music. You can find his mixes on Soundcloud. The dance parties include characters coming into the crowd to interact and dance with the guests.

Time for dinner. We were heading back to The
Brown Derby. Following Dave's Brown Derby rule we went with the pork to go with another helping of the corn bisque. Excellent as always!

After dinner came the long wait for the fireworks. We settled into a space and waited patiently while people pushed through and generally kept cutting into us. The Frozen fireworks show is actually better than the Star Wars show in May. They just seem more colorful and more abundant. It was kind of neat to watch the snow effect stretching down Hollywood Blvd.

Much to Holly's delight we made it back to The Poly in time for Wishes fireworks. After the show we headed over to a pretty empty a Tiki Terrace and enjoyed the rest of the set from the Hawaiian singer.